The Listening Component of the IELTS test

Timing
Approximately 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes' transfer time).

Questions
There are 40 questions. A variety of question types are used, chosen from the following:

• multiple choice
• matching
• plan/map/diagram labelling
• form completion
• note completion
• table completion
• flow-chart completion
• summary completion
• sentence completion
• short-answer questions

Test Parts
There are 4 sections

Section 1 is a conversation between two people set in an everyday context (e.g. a conversation in an accommodation agency)

Section 2 is a monologue set in an everyday social context (e.g. a speech about local facilities or a talk about the arrangements for meals during a conference).

Section 3 is a conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context (e.g. a university tutor and a student discussing an assignment, or a group of students planning a research project).

Section 4 is a monologue on an academic subject (e.g. a university lecture).

Each section is heard once only. A variety of voices and native-speaker accents are used.

Skilled assessed
A wide range of listening skills are assessed, including:

• understanding of main ideas
• understanding of specific factual information
• recognising opinions, attitudes and purpose of a speaker
• following the development of an argument

Marking

Each correct answer receives 1 mark. Scores out of 40 are converted to the IELTS 9-band scale.

Scores are reported in whole and half bands

Raw Score our of 40     Band score
16                                  5
23                                  6
30                                  7
35                                  8

Information for Candidates: Introducing IELTS to test takers p.4

Academic IELTS - Writing (Task 1)

The table shows the preferences of international visitors who either opted for cities, the seaside or tours in 2005 in five countries.

43% of visitors who went to the UK chose cites as their destination while about a half of this number vacationed in Spanish cities. While French cities were preferred by 17% of the tourists, American and Italian cities accounted for 13%.

France and Spain noted high percentages of interest in coastal regions, 75% and 65% respectively. The remaining countries, Italy, USA and the UK had less than 10% of the tourists going to their coasts.

Touring was popular in the USA (81%) and Italy (79%). 53% of the international tourists selected to tour the UK. A tour of Spain (14%) and France (8%) was not popular among visitors.

To sum up, in 2005 international tourists enjoyed touring America and Italy whilst the coastal areas of France and Spain were favoured destinations. The UK was visited for its cities and not its coastal regions.

Academic IELTS - Writing (Task 1)

The bar chart provides information on how much free time men and woman had per week in 1998-99 according to their employment status.

To begin with, unemployed and retired males had 80 hours of free time a week while females in this category had 10 hours less of leisure time. Housewives enjoyed 50 hours per week of free time whereas females who had part-time work had 10 hours less. Finally, men who worked full-time had a rest period of 45 hours a week and their female counterparts didn't have as much free time (35 hours).

We can see that men had more leisure time than women in the given time period particularly those that were unemployed and retired. Although unemployed and retired women also had plenty of free time, those with a full-time job had the least time off as did women with part-time jobs.

IELTS Writing - Paraphrasing an essay topic (Vocabulary)

nowadays - today
more and more people - an increasing number of people
the majority - most
there is a tendency towards - there is a trend for people to
it cannot be denied that - there is no doubt that
be taken into account - considered
has a number of benefits - has considerable advantages
suggest some measures - propose some steps
implement measures - take action
ban - forbid/prohibit
prevent from - discourage from
enable someone - allow someone
provide someone with the opportunity - offer someone the chance
lead to - result in
there is a lack of - there is a shortage of
the elderly - senior citizens
local authorities - the local council
opponents - critics
students - learners
supporters - advocates
children - youngsters
teenagers - adolescents

IELTS Speaking - Holidays (Vocabulary)

all-in package/package holiday - travel and accommodation is included in the price
self-catering - a holiday where you supply your own food
breathtaking view - an extremely beautiful view
stunning landscape - extremely beautiful countryside
picturesque village - very pretty village
places of interest - sites of interest to tourists
to go sightseeing - to look around the tourist sites
charter-flight - a cheaper form of flying
check-in desk - place where you register your flight and leave your luggage
departure lounge - where you wait for your flight to be called
to get away from it all - to take a holiday to escape a stressful lifestyle
guided tour - an organised group shown around a place of interest by an expert
holiday brochure - a publication with details of holiday packages
holiday destination - where you go for a holiday
a resort - a place where many people go for holiday
a youth hostel - a cheap form of accomodation
local crafts - objects produced locally
a souvenir - a thing that is kept as a reminder of a place
a long weekend - an extended weekend holiday including Friday or Monday
a short break - a short holidy
out of season - outside the main holiday period

IELTS Speaking - Vocabulary (Relationships)

to break up - to end a romantic relationship
to drift apart - to become less close to someone
to fall out with - to have a disagreement and stop being friends
to have an argument with/to argue - to have a disagreement
to get a divorce - to disolve a marriage legally
to get along like a house on fire - to like someone's company a lot
to hit it off - to quickly become good friends
to get on well with - to understand someone and enjoy similar interests
to enjoy someone's company - to like spending time with someone
to have ups and downs - to have good and bad times
to ask someone out - when someone asks another person out for a date
to get to know - to begin to know someone
to fall for - to fall in love
to fall head over heels in love - to start to love someone a lot
love at first sight - to fall in love as soon as you meet someone
a healthy relationship - a good, positive relationship
to be in a relationship - to be romanticallly involved with someone
to work at a relationship - to try to keep a positive relationship with someone
to settle down - to give up the single life and start a family
to get engaged - to make a promise to get married
to tie the knot - to get married
to go back years - to have known someone for a long time
to have a lot in common - to share similar interests
to be well matched - to be similar to
to just be good friends - to not be romantically involved
to keep in touch with - to keep in contact with
to lose touch with - to not see or hear from someone anymore

IELTS Speaking - Technology (Vocabulary)

to access websites/email - to locate
to back up files - to make a copy of files in case of a computer problem
to bookmark a webpage - to mark a webpage for future reference
to browse websites/to surf the web - to look at websites
to crash - to suddenly stop working
word processing - producing written texts on a computer
to cut and paste - to move text/images from one place in a document to another
a desktop - a computer that isn't portable
to download - to save a copy of a file from the internet on your own device
to enter a web address - to type the address of a website into the address bar of your browser
a gadget - a technological device e.g. mobile phone, camera
to go online - to start using the Internet
an operating system - the software that tells the computer how to work
to send an attachment - send an email with an accompanying file
social media - media used to interact with other people e.g. Facebook, Twitter
to upgrade - to obtain a more powerful/feature-rich computer or software
video conferencing - to see and hear people from different locations using the Internet
wireless hotspot - a public place where you can access the Internet
wireless network - a network where users can access the Internet without the use of fixed cables